Taking A Stand

With the right president in US, changing the system is possible. After his election win, I would have liked to see Obama adapting a 3rd Wave agenda -for a while there during his campaign, it seemed that he would- and forcing the other side to respond, be the ones stopping change, and hit them on the head with it. At that point he could have painted all who opposed as standing in the way of America’s transformation, and convince people of the necessity on the new direction. The US Presidency provides a platform for that kind of thing.

But, what US got instead was small-time change, marked with a boneheaded remark about saving newspapers. Obama used technology to win the election, but he does not seem to understand its transformative and disruptive potential.

I do admit, I want US to do the dirty work in this regard, to adapt its system suitable for 21st century; then, we on the other parts of the world can just copy it. Hah! But I also believe US is the right place for this kind of effort. People are innovative, the culture isnt too centralized, enough rule-driven, enough rule-breaking that a lot of experimentation can take place and pragmatic selection of winners can proceed.